Hundreds of Buncombe teachers join Raleigh rally, canceling classes locally

Nearly 600 Buncombe County teachers turned a Raleigh rally into a disrupted school day in Asheville and Buncombe, forcing district leaders to cancel normal classes and make May 1 an optional teacher workday. Buncombe County Schools said it did not have enough staff to safely supervise students if that many employees were away at once, and Asheville City Schools also adjusted its schedule.

The mass leave requests came as educators traveled to Halifax Mall in downtown Raleigh for the Kids Over Corporations rally, where thousands of teachers, parents, students and community members gathered to press lawmakers on public school funding, teacher pay and the long-delayed state budget. At least 22 school districts across North Carolina canceled classes because so many employees asked for the day off, showing how far the protest reached beyond the Capitol grounds.

For Buncombe families, the immediate effect was practical and sudden: a workday for teachers instead of a regular day of instruction, with district leaders now facing the task of making up lost instructional time. Buncombe County Schools said that could mean extending the school year or changing teacher workdays later on. In Asheville, Asheville High School was among the schools affected as local schedules shifted around the rally.

Shanna Peele, president of the Buncombe County Association of Educators, said the turnout reflected years of frustration with lawmakers and a sense among teachers that quieter appeals had not been enough. Local educators said the budget stalemate is not an abstract fight in Raleigh; it shapes staffing levels, classroom support and morale in schools from downtown Asheville to the rest of Buncombe County.

The protest landed against a stubborn policy backdrop. National Education Association data cited by local and union sources put North Carolina’s average public school teacher salary for 2023-24 at $58,292, about $13,738 below the national average of $72,030, leaving the state ranked 43rd in teacher pay. Education Law Center’s Making the Grade 2025 placed North Carolina 50th out of 51 in funding effort and 50th in funding level, with per-student funding about $5,600 below the national average.

The rally also came just weeks after the North Carolina Supreme Court ended the long-running Leandro school-funding litigation on procedural grounds while leaving intact the constitutional principle that students are entitled to a sound basic education. With the court path narrowed, educators in Western North Carolina chose public pressure at Halifax Mall instead, sending Raleigh a signal that the consequences of inaction are now reaching classroom doors, school calendars and family routines in Buncombe County.